YouTube Music: a big catalogue, but background play costs money
YouTube Music mixes official tracks with live cuts, covers and remixes, and adds personalised mixes. The free tier has ads, and background play and downloads need Premium.
YouTube Music mixes official tracks with live cuts, covers and remixes, and adds personalised mixes. The free tier has ads, and background play and downloads need Premium.
3.9 / 5
YouTube Music is Google's music streaming app for Android. Its pitch is breadth. Alongside studio releases, the developer says you will find live performances, covers, remixes and material that is hard to find elsewhere, plus a large set of curated playlists sorted by genre and by activity.
That framing matters when choosing between it and a competitor such as Spotify. The catalogue is the draw here, and the listing is explicit that the odd, unofficial-feeling material is part of the point. I can't say how well any of it is organised, only that this is what is advertised.
The app builds mixes around what you already listen to. There are general ones such as a discovery mix and a new-releases mix, and activity mixes for working out, relaxing or focusing. You can also browse by genre (hip hop, country, jazz, K-pop, Latin and others) or by mood, such as sleep, commute or party, and look at charts from around the world.
Your own collection lives in a library that gathers liked songs, saved playlists, artists and albums. You can make playlists yourself, take song suggestions while building one, or invite other people to add tracks. Lyrics are offered for singing along, and each track can switch between its audio version and a music video.
The app is free to install, but the listing is clear about what Premium adds: no ads, playback in the background, and access to downloads, including smart downloads. Background play is the big one. Music you cannot keep playing with the screen off is a serious restriction for a phone music player, so for regular listening the free tier looks more like a sampler.
Premium is also described as available in select countries, so the paid route may not be open to everyone. Free trials and introductory pricing are limited to first-time subscribers across several earlier Google and YouTube subscription products, which rules out anyone who has already used one.
It suits people who want a wide catalogue with live and remixed material, and who will pay for Premium. Reach is a strength: the developer lists phones, desktop, smart speakers, TVs, cars and watches, with a Wear OS tile and support for Maps, Waze and Assistant.
Skip it if you want a fully free, ad-free player, or if you live where Premium is not sold. The free version is usable for trying it out, but the features most people expect from a music app are the ones held back. My verdict is a solid app with a price attached to its best parts.
By Trang Nguyen
Editor, media and streaming ·
YouTube Music
com.google.android.apps.youtube.music
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